Meeker, Caron in Raoul Walsh's Runyonesque gumbo

A thrown-together gumbo from, of all directors, Raoul Walsh, Glory Alley
(named for a raffish stretch of Bourbon Street) can't decide what flavor
should dominate: the sweet, the piquant, the bitter. It seems to have
been
assembled from ingredients on hand at MGM in 1952. They
were:

Ralph Meeker. Best remembered as Mike Hammer in Kiss Me Deadly, he caught
the studio's eye when he replaced Marlon Brando on Broadway as Stanley
Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire. On the off-chance that the N'Awlins
setting might work its voodoo once more, the brawny Meeker was cast as a
prizefighter called Socks Barbarossa.

Leslie Caron. Fresh from An American in Paris, she was at best a dancer
with a Gallic accent and gamine charm. Here, she supports her blind
father
(Kurt Kaszner) by kicking (en point, no less) in hoochie-koochie numbers
in
a dive called Chez Bozo; it's a cross between Harriet Hoctor and Mary
Tyler
Moore as Laura Petrie, dancing in Capris.

Louis Armstrong. Instead of turning him into a jazz-joint headliner, he's
relegated to the part of a philosophizing guide for the sightless old
grump;
thankfully, he sings a few songs and blows his horn now and
again.

All in all, Glory Alley is a Runyonesque slice of life set among the poor
people of the Big Easy. Meeker, in love with Caron but hated by her
father,
sustains a none-too-plausible run of ups and downs (there's even an
excursion to Korea). It's a pot-luck special, made (it seems) to clear
out
the studio's larders.

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15 out of 20 people found the following review useful:

MGM enters the Fifties in a state of confusion!

GLORY ALLEY is one of the films that signaled the end of the golden age
of MGM. Set in a silly back-lot New Orleans, the drama centers on a
prizefighter who inexplicably flees a championship bout just as it is
about to begin. We have to wait the whole movie to find out why - and
when we do the reason is so silly that it makes the whole movie seem
like a complete waste of time. Ralph Meeker, a good-looking but rather
genteel actor, struggles to play the street-wise boxer. It's the sort
of part John Garfield played so well, but Meeker, lovingly filmed by
William Daniels, just seems too pretty. The ludicrous 'on-the-skids'
montage hardly helps - nor does the fact that his character is called
"Socks"!

Then we have Leslie Caron as his love interest. It looks like this part
was hurriedly re-written for her after her triumph in AN American IN
Paris. She performs ridiculous ballet routines in a seedy bar (you know
the patrons would have booed her off immediately). You see she wanted
to be a ballerina, but she gave it all up to support her blind father.
He's played by Kurt Kaszner - an actor still in his thirties but donned
with silly silver hair to make him look ancient and wise.

Then there's Louis Armstrong, sadly named "Shadow", and seemingly the
only African-American in New Orleans. He's supposed to be Meeker's
trainer, but he spends the whole movie playing his trumpet and leading
absurd sing-a-longs at the local bar. He does have a couple of good
acting scenes though. The excellent Gilbert Roland floats around the
film's edges with nothing to do, while John McIntire adds pseudo
profound narration to the story - told in flashback like a film noir.

Probably the worst sequence in the film, and that's saying something,
is the ludicrous Korean War scene, with some stock footage, four
soldiers, some sort of pine forest and a rear projected bridge deemed
sufficient to portray a major world conflict.

So we have a boxing picture, a musical, a film noir, a war film, and a
pseudo-Freudian psychological study all rolled into one! What more
could you ask for?

It's hard to believe a fine hard-boiled director like Raoul Walsh
oversaw this mess - he probably wanted to run straight back to Warner
Bros afterwards.

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12 out of 16 people found the following review useful:

Bourbon Street balderdash...

Would-be 'hard-bitten' product from MGM suffers from too many disparate
ingredients. A retiring newspaperman in New Orleans reflects on his
best subject: a prize-fighter named Socks (!) who infamously deserted a
boxing match at the eleventh hour; after stints as a huckster and as a
soldier in the Korean War, he makes a celebrated comeback. This may
very well be revered director Raoul Walsh's worst film--but really, no
director could segue smoothly between these slabs of superficial
melodrama, including a fighter with neuroses, his ballet-dancing
girlfriend, her blind father the Judge, and a jazz-singing,
trumpet-playing member of the troupe. As an early vehicle for Ralph
Meeker and Leslie Caron, it's a wash-out; neither star is shown to a
good advantage, although Caron's jerky choreography is an odd hoot and
Meeker does look great in boxing gloves. Louis Armstrong's final
musical number in a barroom is rousing--and his general good will is
infectious--yet the music, the milieu, and the material never quite
come together. * from ****

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12 out of 16 people found the following review useful:

We're Talking Major Train Wreck

This is one of the few movies I consider so bad they're interesting.
The champion in this category is "The Guilt Of Janet Ames." "Glory
Alley" is not that awful but it is a real mess. Yet, it is intriguing.

Ralph Meeker, the brilliant star of "Kiss Me Deadly" who did way too
few movies, plays a boxer named Socks Barbarosa. Maybe Bill Clinton
named his cat after this character.

Meeker is also very good in "Show In The Sky." He was generally
underused ion movies, though.

"Glory Alley" is a kind of faux-Damon Runyon. Runyon gone South to New
Orleans. We have Socks. We have a blind man called the Judge. His
helper, played by Louis Armstrong, is named Shadow.

The Judge has an Italian accent; yet his daughter has a French accent.
And no wonder: She is Leslie Caron. Caron and Meeker could have been a
fantastic combination. She's appealing. It's hard, though, to believe
that she is doing music hall numbers at a dive called Chez Bozo and her
father doesn't know it. He seems to know everything else that's going
on.

The movie is narrated by newspaper reporter John McIntire. It's a
voice-over narration, looking back on the vents we're seeing. But this
is no noir. McIntire tells us it's the most fascinating story he ever
covered -- and he's never told the truth till now -- is that of Socks
Barbarosa.

Well, it could have been a fascinating story. It's peopled with fine
actors and a superb leading man. But it doesn't hold together. This is
not to mention its preaching: Much of the dialogue, especially toward
the end, sounds as if it came from a sampler on a wall. Nor what sounds
like the MGM Chorale that accompanies some of Armstrong's trumpet
playing and is sort of an uplifting Greek chorus.

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6 out of 8 people found the following review useful:

Dumb...

This movie had one of the dumbest plots I have ever seen...spoiler
alert..an undefeated boxer runs out of the ring at the start of the
championship fight because he has a scar on the top of his head and is
afraid somebody might see it...dumb,dumb,dumb. Good stars, wasted in
this film. Leslie Caron is doing ballet on top of a bar at a New
Orleans dive - very unlikely. She is French, but her father is Italian?
Gilbert Roland (who is one of my favorite stars) just wanders around
with nothing to do in this picture. Even Louis Armstrong is wasted in
this film. He plays a little trumpet and sings a couple of very
unremarkable songs. The battle scene (which lasts about 30 seconds) in
Korea takes place in what looks like a Douglas Fir forest. I don't
think they have any of those in Korea. The whole thing doesn't make any
sense.

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7 out of 10 people found the following review useful:

A Lesson in Bad Movie-Making

Rarely have I seen such uniformly bad reviews for a studio production
with name stars as this one. No need to repeat many of the negative
points already made. I am curious, nonetheless, how such a misfire not
only got released but also how it got made in the first place. Director
Raoul Walsh was one of Hollywood's most respected filmmakers, and
deservedly so. Yet his direction of Meeker suggests that neither of
them had a clear concept of the character of Socks who comes across
like a grinning doofus instead of a tough-guy boxer (compare with
Meeker's genuine tough guy in Kiss Me Deadly). In fact, Walsh's
direction really comes alive only during the crowd scenes which do show
some sparkle. My guess is he took one look at the screenplay and went
for the payday. And who was it, I wonder, who gave final approval to a
script (Art Cohn) that has all the coherence and plausibility of an Ed
Wood creation. To me, the movie has too many earmarks of a rush-job
that ended up doing nobody any favors. Cable should do viewers a favor
and give this sorry concoction a belated burial, decent or otherwise.

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4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:

Stupid.

"Glory Alley" is a frustrating movie because it is so dumb and
completely wastes the talents of one of the more interesting actors of
his time, Ralph Meeker. Meeker had a natural way of acting--tough,
gritty and with incredible realism. He played a great Mike Hammer and
was terrific in "Shadow in the Sky". It's odd how he didn't become more
famous--maybe a few terrible films like this one could explain it.

The first clue that this was a bad film was the opening narration.
Rarely will you find dumber narration--and you wonder who wrote this
tripe. Unfortunately, during the Korean War segment later in the film,
you hear this lame claptrap again.

The film is about the ridiculously named 'Socks Barbarossa' (Meeker).
He's a contender for the title but, inexplicably, he simply walks out
of the boxing ring seconds before a big fight begins. Why is uncertain
for a while but SOME of his motivation seems to be a desire not to
become a punch-drunk loser--the fate of most boxers. Naturally, folks
are darn mad--but the angriest is the blind father (Kurt Kasznar) of
his girlfriend (Leslie Caron).

As for Caron, she still wants to marry Meeker. It might mean she can
finally leave her job dancing on Bourbon Street. Now the dancing made
me laugh--instead of stripping she danced a supposedly sexy
dance--consisting of ballet and lots of wiggling. Coming for a cute
lady like Caron, it made me laugh and seemed about as erotic as
watching Irene Ryan strip! Who came up with this?!?! Meeker spends much
of the rest of the film trying to prove he is a man. And, when he's
sent to Korea, he risks his life and wins the Medal of Honor--and
everyone loves him--except for Kasznar. As for Kasznar, he's
ridiculously angry throughout the film and constantly berates Meeker.
For him, the Congressional Medal of Honor isn't good enough!! Duh. So
what can Meeker do next to win over Kasznar? Because without doing
this, it seems unlikely Caron will ever marry him.

In the end, you find out the MAIN reason he had for quitting
boxing--and it makes no sense at all! All that wait, the bad narration
and Kasznar's bad overacting...for nothing! A complete and total
waste--showing even a very good actor can make a terrible films. And,
even more amazing is that it was directed by one of the better
directors of his time, Raoul Walsh! Uggh--it's bad.

Glory Alley- Get Out of this Lane Real Fast *

It is as if pieces of various stories were melded to bring us this
absolutely terrible film.

Nice seeing Louis Armstrong looking so young and singing. He held the
trumpet but where was his playing?

I never saw the Korean War go so fast in a film. Ralph Meeker went
there and returned a hero in record time. He could have mailed back his
Congressional honor with this awful movie at any time.

Leslie Caron is even miserable in doing what she usually did best- a
chanteuse. It's just unbelievable that her father detests Meeker so.

Ralph Meeker plays a boxer going up who suddenly throws it all away.
Imagine, he hires Dr. "Larry Gates" to cure Caron's blindness. Gates
then goes into a discussion with the father on why Meeker is so
wonderful.

This is total hodge-podge at its worst.

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4 out of 6 people found the following review useful:

It takes more then a medal to make a man

**SPOILERS** Bizarre but interesting movie about a professional prize
fighter Socks Barbarrosa, Ralph Meeker, who just loses it when he's
about the fight Terry Waulker, Pat Valentino, the #1 contender for the
Heavyweight Championship of the World. Bolting from the ring as he's
being introduced Socks locks himself in his dressing room announcing
his retirement from boxing?

During all the confusion Socks knocks on his butt, by accident of
course, the blind-proving that justice is truly blind-"Judge" Gus
Evens, Kurt Kasznar,who just happens to be the father of Socks' fiancée
leggy nightclub danger Angie Evens, Leslie Caron! This strange action
on Socks part has his forthcoming marriage to Angie put on hold with
"The Judge", who's to give away the bride, being the one person to
object to Socks having his daughter's hand in marriage.

As you would expect Socks becomes somewhat of a freak show wherever he
goes with everybody making him the butt of their jokes about a man who
cracked up at the very moment that he was to become, by beating Terry
Waulker, the top contender for the heavyweight crown. In fact Socks did
have his match with Waulker, who lost his $15,000.00 purse because
Socks chickened out, in the empty arena knocking him flat on his a** in
less then a minute!

The movie gets even more bizarre when Socks is about to get his life,
and head, back together as an assistant bar tender at his good friend's
Peppi Donnato's, Glbert Roland, drinking establishment,"The Punch
Bowl", that he's drafted into the US Army at the height of the Korean
War. Socks' military experience in the movie is so short, about three
minutes, that if you went to buy a soda and bag of popcorn, or go to
the bathroom, you would have missed it. All Socks does is take out an
important bridge, singlehanded, on the Yalu River blocking a major
Communist Chinese offensive! In this selfless and heroic action Socks
ends up saving hundreds, if not thousands, of his fellow GI's from
total annihilation!

Winning, or better yet earning, the Congressional Medal of Honor, the
highest medal the nation has to offer its fighting men or women, Socks
comes back home to New Orleans a hero but, as you would expect, that
doesn't last for long. The very unforgiving "Judge" still has it in for
him for Socks knocking him down as well as refusing to have his
daughter Angie tie the knot with him.

More hurt then ever, what does the guy have to do to get people to like
him!, Socks in a last effort to win over "The Judge" secretly gets
renowned eye surgeon Dr. Robet Ardley, Larry Gates, from Socks'
hometown of Milwaukee to operate and get "The Judge" back his sight.
Finding out that Socks is behind him getting his important eye
operation "The Judge" goes completely haywire in him not wanting the
hated Socks to do anything for him! It's then that Dr. Gates cools "The
Judge" off in telling him the real story being Socks strange and and
somewhat crazy behavior that began when he was a little boy in
Milwaukee. It's after that amazing revelation, on Dr. Gates' part,
about Socks hidden and somewhat embarrassing past that everybody, on
and off the screen, realizes what a serious head case Socks really is!
Dr. Gates' explanation about Socks' mental, or head, problems not only
brings out the reason for Socks' off the wall actions but the fact that
the poor guy, as much as he tries not to, just can't help himself!

Touching ending with Socks redeeming himself both in and out of the
boxing ring and finally getting "The Judge" to like him and letting
Socks marry his daughter Angie. It's also Angie who got her father to
understand Socks strange predicament as well as her own in the movie.
Angie tells her father that she in fact is not working as a nurse at
the New Orleans General Hospital but dancing half naked, to the hooting
and cheering of an almost all male audience, at the anything goes Chez
Bozo dance hall in downtown New Orleans. And even being more direct
Angie tells "The Judge" that while he's putting the one man-Socks- who
can bring back his sight down she's breaking her back every evening at
the Chez Bozo to pay his bills and supporting him while he going around
feeling sorry for himself!

P.S there's also in the film the great trombonist and jazz singer Louie
Armstrong as Shadow Johnson who's a good friend of "The Judge". Shadow
like Angie tries unsuccessfully to make "The Judge" see the light in
what a good fine and caring person Socks really is until "the Judge",
with both Socks' and Dr, Gates help, finally "sees" it for himself!

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1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:

A pinata of plot devices with Ralph Meeker as Frank Sinatra

This film starts out as Gabe Jordan, a New Orleans columnist, prepares
to retire, and talks about all of the interesting people in New Orleans
that he has written about over the years. But he settles on one person
of interest that sticks out prominently in his mind - Socks Barbarosa
(Ralph Meeker). Now the name is interesting enough as he neither wears
socks differently from anybody else, nor does he have a red beard, but
I digress.

So the story of Socks is the plot, and oh what a tangled mess it is.
First, Socks is supposed to be heading for the championship in the
ring, but one night he just runs away before the fight even starts. He
says he is quitting, and will not say why. This is apparently enough
for his blind backer, the Judge (Kurt Kasnar), to turn from friend to
enemy. Every time he sees the guy he practically hisses and spits on
him Come to think of it, I think he does spit on him. Socks is in love
with Angie, the Judge's daughter (Leslie Caron), and she wisely
postpones their wedding because married women can't work burlesque,
which is what she has been doing and Socks is not trained to do
anything but fight.

So Socks hits the skids for awhile, drinking his troubles away, and
then joins the army and goes to Korea where he wins the Congressional
medal of honor. He comes back, feted by military brass and the
political elite of New Orleans, but after awhile he is forgotten again.
So he picks up where he left off before Korea, whining endlessly about
how bad he has it. I think he was going for the Frank Sinatra,
"I'd-have-no-luck-if-it-wasn't-bad" vibe, but Meeker just plays this
like a 20-something that never grew up. He lacks Sinatra's ability to
project an interesting melancholy mystique.

I'll let you see how this film meanders to its confusing conclusion. It
is probably worth a look for a few reasons that have nothing to do with
the main character or the plot. For one you have musical interludes
featuring the musical talent of the great Louis Armstrong and the
dancing of Leslie Caron who does the best she can with a part in which
she is completely miscast. Also, the film does have great atmosphere.
You feel like you are on the gritty rain soaked streets of New Orleans
back before it became riddled with crime and was just full of
characters. You can almost hear Marlon Brando tear his tee shirt while
crying "Stella!" somewhere out there in the French quarter.